A celebration of life for late Illinois State University graduate student Jelani Day on Saturday night resembled a spiritual revival, a rally, a memorial and a party with music, food and dancing. The event at ISU’s Bone Student Center was to remember Jelani Day, a 25-year-old from Danville who was pursuing a graduate degree in…
HAVANA, Ill. — Federal and state agencies spend millions of dollars every year to keep destructive invasive carp out of the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, at least 25 destructive species — like water fleas and bloody red shrimp — are inching closer to the Mississippi River Basin. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s528/audio/2022/08/08.24.22.InvasivesFeature.mp3 Listen to this story here. Invasive silver carp…
ROCKFORD — With the new school year starting, reports of a “national teacher shortage” are at an all-time high. But is staffing a school actually way harder this year than previous years? Is there a teacher shortage? A superintendent at a small school district in rural Illinois might tell you about how elementary teacher positions…
LEXINGTON — An array of issues, ranging from biofuels and renewable energy to livestock protection and trade agreements, faced Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Republican challenger Kathy Salvi during the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable candidates forum Wednesday in rural Lexington. The recently signed Inflation Reduction Act and the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness plan…
ROCKFORD — Advanced Placement — or AP — classes were created over 70 years ago to give high school students a jump-start on the path to college. Students can earn early college credit by scoring high on AP tests. But, even in 2022, that opportunity often isn’t available to every student. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s528/audio/2022/08/0822apf.mp3 Listen to this…
NORMAL — Over the next five years, the Diverse Corn Belt project will be conducting research to discover opportunities that can be created from diversified farming systems and investigate the impacts of transformed crop rotations. The multidisciplinary research project funded by a $10 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will…
BARTONVILLE –U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth says she’s concerned the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision could lead to additional limitations of reproductive choices. “The Dobbs decision on Roe v. Wade wasn’t about banning or not banning abortion. It was about whether or not people with uteruses have the…
ROCKFORD — Two Ukrainian girls recently danced across the stage of Rockford’s historic Coronado Theatre. It was one of their last days in the U.S. before heading back home. The chaperones, some of them parents, and their teenage friends smile as they watched them waltz. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s528/audio/2022/08/0815ukrf.mp3 Listen to this story here. There hasn’t been much…
SPRINGFIELD — Democrats’ annual Illinois State Fair rally day in Springfield on Wednesday featured all the usual trappings of the affair: a well-attended brunch program in the morning, barbecue and beer out at the state fairgrounds in the afternoon, and antipathy for Republicans throughout. The GOP will perform that sentiment in reverse during its political…
SPRINGFIELD — Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey on Tuesday said he’d prioritize eliminating “critical race theory” and “egregious” sex education standards from Illinois schools if elected to replace Gov. JB Pritzker in November, courting a relatively new coalition of voters radicalized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bailey made those comments to a small rally outside the…
BLOOMINGTON — Four people have filed race discrimination lawsuits against State Farm in recent weeks. Two were filed in Texas and two were filed in Georgia. The new cases are in addition to similar lawsuits filed against the insurance giant that WGLT previously has reported on. Each of the plaintiffs, five women and one man,…
Around two days a week, Natalee Hartwig leaves her home in Madison, Wisconsin, before her son wakes up, to travel across the border into Illinois. “Luckily it’s summer,” said Hartwig, a nurse midwife at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “For now he can sleep in. But any getting ready that has to happen will be on…
SPRINGFIELD — The University of Illinois Springfield has elected to discontinue its contract with the state’s Department of Children and Family Services to offer simulation training for DCFS investigators in a house on campus. The university decided against renewal of the agreement because the state had not followed its best-practice recommendation that simulation training be…
WASHINGTON — Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi was part of the group that joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a trip to Taiwan last week. This was the highest level U-S visit to that country in 25 years. WBEZ’s Mawa Iqbal spoke with the Schaumburg Democrat about why they went and how their trip could impact…
https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s278/audio/2022/08/0804-abortion-bm-web.wav CARBONDALE, Ill. — Addison Pesek sits on the curb of a 1950s-era Dairy Queen, the small ice cream shop’s neon glow washing over her and her family on a recent summer evening. Dozens of local residents wait in line to order from the Carbondale staple as the 22-year-old enjoys a cup of ice cream…